TRP: Goro and Mishka (Fistfight)
Coyote: at 8:16 PM On the Sugar Glider, towards the end of Drunk Night. After the Raef talk, after Hansel and Mishka kissed, after Goro and Hansel talked, and after Larkin and Goro talked. The party, Mishka realized, was getting a bit much for him. It’d been wonderful so far. Talking to Mysterious Elf Fellow, getting things resolved there. Nixie had disappeared into the captain’s quarters with Turtle Kid. Goro had been… flirting with Hansel?... which was… wildly amusing. And, god. That fucking kiss. Mishka mentally filed that memory away. Ridiculous, how… excellent… Hansel was. How forgiving, and sweet, and the way he kissed, and—ridiculous. Insane. Well, the cannibal thing was still throwing Mishka off a bit, but honestly that whole fucking situation was Mishka’s fault in the first place. And everyone had their flaws. Who hadn’t eaten the occasional crewmate? Some day, Mishka was going to convince Hansel how great he was. The guy obviously didn’t know. It’d take a while, though. Take some planning. Hansel seemed to be in a charming mood. Mishka touched him on the shoulder lightly and spoke quietly between them. “Beloved—I’m going to rest downstairs in your room, alright?” Specifically saying where he was and where he’d be. “Y’know how I am at parties after too long. Stay up here, though. You look… I don’t fuckin’ know. I mean—you look like you’re having fun, and you’re drunk, and—ah, damn it. You look happy.” The more he kept talking, the more awkward he got. He felt like a fucking kid around Hansel again. Too much gin. “Anyway. I love you. Don’t look after me. I’m in a weird mood, need some space, is all. Come find me if you need me. I’ll be there.” He slipped downstairs, went to Hansel's room, and shut the door. He hesitated over whether to lock it-- then decided, fuck it, he'd leave it open. Hansel might need to get in. Mishka probably wasn't going to actually fall asleep, anyway, just needed to sit quietly in the dark for a bit. He lay down in the hammock, grabbed Hansel's blanket again, and closed his eyes. Lina: at 8:20 PM Goro wasn't sure he had the presence of mind to face Nixie at the moment, so when he needed to get away from everyone, he went below decks to his own room. Where there awaited him a staggering amount of gold he wasn't going to bother counting at the moment, and a letter. He read it and re-read it, frowning. Turned it over a few times to check that he wasn't mistaken about what he was seeing. This was Mishka's reply to his note. Goro was baffled. He'd thought his note was pretty nice. Considering the gold, and the end of Mishka's reply, Goro could only assume Mishka had misinterpreted the promise to call in the thirty minutes. Thought it was some kind of threat. That was the problem with notes. You couldn't do anything suggestive with your eyebrows through them. Goro headed upstairs, intent on finding Mishka and explaining. Whether he was going to say I wanted you to kiss me for thirty minutes or I thought we could talk to each other for a while without bullshitting or Maybe we'd just have a drink and sit in companionable silence remained to be seen. But it was going to be a more acceptable offer than whatever the fuck Mishka had in mind. But Mishka wasn't on deck. Hansel was standing guard all by his lonesome. Goro didn't bother asking--he could guess where Mishka had gone. He went back below deck and pounded on Hansel's door. "Wake up, sleepyhead! I need to get something straight with you." Coyote: at 8:24 PM Ah, fuck. Mishka realized, suddenly, the depth of how much he'd fucked up with that note. He should've just left it be. Or written something... nicer. Left the five hundred gold and taken the thirty minutes back without being a dick about it. "Fuck off, I'm sleeping," he said. Nah, that wasn't going to work. That was just going to bother him and keep him up. Better to resolve it now. He got up and opened the door. He eyed Goro silently. "Get something straight? You never struck me as a straight man." He thought about making a joke-- something about... Goro being more 'crooked and bisexual' than 'straight and narrow' but he was-- Huh. He was pretty fucking pissed, for some reason. That didn't usually happen. Lina: at 8:28 PM "Hah, hah. Listen." Goro held up the note. "I think we had a little misunderstanding here. Just what did you think I wanted out of those thirty minutes?" Coyote: at 8:30 PM This was a bad place to have this conversation. Mishka couldn't lean... debonairly.... against anything. And he wasn't drunk anymore, more like half-drunk and half-hungover. He thought about saying Fuck off. I don't know what you want with them and don't care. And then shutting the door. "Ah, sorry," he said instead. "Should've added an expiration date to that note, huh. Probably should've said. Only valid if you fucking use it." Lina: at 8:34 PM Goro laughed and shook his head. He leaned in conspiratorially. "Excuse you. I was saving it for something good." But... something wasn't adding up. Mishka was downright pissed in his note, and Goro had assumed he'd felt threatened but... no, that didn't fit with what he was saying now. Shit. He'd missed something. His smile faded halfway, but he tried to catch it and hold it, keep things lighthearted. Coyote: at 8:40 PM Mishka eyed him. The simplest and fastest solution was to just dominate Goro again and make him go upstairs. Especially now, at a weak moment. Goro would be pissed, and not forgive for that. Mishka would laugh it off like he meant nothing and Goro was being foolish; that'd make it cut more, and then Goro would probably leave him alone from then on out. Yeah. That was a good solution. Make Goro hate him. He didn't want to... do that, though. He'd seen the panic flash across Goro's face before when the spell wore off after Mishka got his mask back; remembered the get-clenching feeling when he'd realized, a minute too late, why Goro was afraid of that. He felt bad about it. So instead he said, "Goro, fuck off. I don't know what the fuck you wanted to do with them, and frankly, at this point, I don't care. Pitch the note overboard with the necklace or something." And he closed the door and sat back down. Lina: at 8:48 PM Goro stared at the door inches from his face, stunned. Yep, he'd definitely missed something. He reread his own note to Mishka, trying to figure out where he'd gone wrong. Maybe it wasn't even anything to do with that. Maybe it was the sort of hitting on Hansel thing. Who fucking knew? "What did I do?" he yelled through the door. Coyote: at 8:53 PM Fuck's sake. Mishka got up out of the hammock again and opened the door. He summoned all of his lying skills. He meant to say: Darling. My friend. It's nothing. Go upstairs and get drunk. I have a migraine. Goro looked totally lost. Mishka got halfway through a lie, and then he thought: Fuck this. He could pretend he was wasted in the morning. There was a good chance Goro wouldn't remember it anyway. "Why did you pitch the necklace overboard? Why'd that work?" Lina: at 8:53 PM "Huh?" Coyote: at 8:56 PM "The fucking necklace," Mishka said. "The jade pendant. You pitched it over. Because Nixie... would fucking think badly of you." His grip burned the door. Lina: at 8:59 PM Wow. He was pissed. Goro fought the urge to take a step back, and he failed. First one foot, then the other. "Why... why... why else would I? I mean." Oh fuck. Fuck, he didn't have a clue what he was saying wrong. "I mean, I meant what I said, that you wouldn't have found it where I had it hidden. It was fine. I thought." Coyote: at 9:01 PM "Yeah," Mishka said. "You're right. It's fine. Listen. You outta go back upstairs, right? Nixie-- y'know, she's been trying to keep this hush-hush, but that Turtle Kid, he's been helping her do her hair and nails. Planning some sort of surprise or dance for you at the end of the night. Pretend to be surprised, alright?" Lina: at 9:10 PM Goro barely registered the words coming out of Mishka's mouth, so intently was he watching for some kind of answer. Nixie, yes, the mention of her did give him some kind of stupid flutter in his chest, but... no, there was something wrong here. "What did I do?" he said again. Coyote: at 9:16 PM Mishka’s grip tightened on the door. It’d be so much… fucking… easier without these weird little moments of… honesty, or… whatever the fuck it was. Easier if Goro was just an asshole all the time. Mm. New plan. Bait it into becoming a bigger argument, make himself the bad guy, get Goro to back off that way. His eyes flickered up. He didn’t want to ruin the party for anyone else. Maybe he could get Goro into the hold, somehow? Maybe he could think of an excuse. Without speaking, he closed the door behind him, burn marks and all, and walked lower down into the hold. He trailed down the stairs, watching Goro to see if he’d follow. Motioning with his fingers. Lina: at 9:24 PM Well. Shit. This was getting weird, real fast. And Goro couldn't get a fucking read on the guy, at the moment. He got a read on the door, though. Burn marks, and a whiff of burnt wood. Tsk tsk, Mishka. Don't send Nixie's ship up in flames again. Mishka didn't seem like he was in the mood for that, though, so Goro kept it to himself. He followed him into the hold, looking around once they'd arrived for something significant. Looked the same as ever. He raised his eyebrows at Mishka. Coyote: at 9:41 PM Mishka picked over his words, trying to think of what would cut the most. Needed to provoke Goro into hitting him, somehow. This was far down enough--two flights of stairs and a closed door-- he could instigate a fistfight without alerting anyone, then take the blame for it later. He needed to really fucking wreck it first, though. He couldn't just hit the kid. Kid had to hit first. That always made it worse. The problem was, he'd never managed to get a bead on the kid enough to do that. Possibilities. Weak point. The suicide thing. Goro was like him; he'd managed to sniff that out. He thought about provoking it-- saying Why haven't you killed yourself already? And digging his fingers into... whatever that sore spot was. The problem was, he was afraid it'd work too well. He wanted the kid angry at him, not dead. And then another idea occurred to him. A flickered idea, like a candle lighting up. Kids like this, growing up on the streets, the knife scars on Goro's chest, the way he-- the way Goro... tensed... when Mishka kissed him. Not moving closer or away. The kid clearly hated it. He needed to do something nasty to provoke him. It might as well be this. He'd do it once, provoke the kid into hitting him. Silently apologizing to Hansel, and apologizing silently to Goro, he grabbed Goro by the tunic, shoved him against the wall, and kissed him again. Lina: at 9:45 PM Oh. Oh. Well then. Maybe this was the thirty minutes. Well, he couldn't complain. Two kisses in one night. Why the hell not. Mishka had him pinned against the wall, but he pressed back, leaning into Mishka's hands. Kissing him back. Coyote: at 10:01 PM Goro was supposed to hit him. Or. Do… nothing, again, and then Mishka would back off and try something else, or— What happened, instead, was that in a split second, Goro kissed him back, and the scheme melted away, because Mishka—Mishka was fucking drunk. He hadn’t realized. Goro leaned into it, kissing him back—a little clumsily, tasting like wine. Oh fuck. Oh fuck, this had—had this backfired? Did this count as backfiring? Had he won or lost? He really needed to rethink his fucking schemes. So instead of really thinking about it, he kissed harder, keeping Goro up against the wall, boxed into a corner. One hand on Goro’s neck, keeping him in place. The other on Goro's arm. Goro made a small sound, reaching up. His hand slid up Mishka's shirt one inch, resting on Mishka's bare skin -- on his hip -- and Mishka shuddered without meaning to. Then he remembered what he was doing and let go. He moved several feet back like a cat that had water dumped on it. He stared at Goro in open shock. “What the fuck?” he managed, wiping his mouth. Oh god. Oh god, this was exactly how Hansel felt ten years ago, dealing with him. He had no clue it was this fucking difficult. He had… so many regrets. He needed to... wow. He needed to apologize to Hansel for some things. Who would ever voluntarily deal with this kind of bullshit? Lina: at 10:06 PM "Sorry. Was that... too much?" Goro put his hands behind his back and clasped them there. God, damn though, that had been something. "I don't have an hourglass or anything, but I'm pretty sure we've still got, oh, I don't know, twenty-seven minutes left or so." Maybe that was too far, too. He felt fuzzy-headed and good from the kiss, but Mishka didn't seem to have enjoyed it as much. Even though he'd started it. What the fuck, indeed. Coyote: at 10:08 PM Mishka just stared at him, speechless. He sat down heavily on a crate. God. He'd had so many good lines for this fight, and now he couldn't remember any of them. "You, ah. You. Wanted to use the thirty minutes. For. Kissing and such?" Huh. Maybe he should-- Huh. Lina: at 10:10 PM "I mean, that was one possibility." Goro pressed his lips together and let them out with a smack. They felt a little raw. It was good. "Hey, what the hell's up with you tonight?" Coyote: at 10:11 PM "Hey, hey, hey. Fuck you, I'm angry at you." Fuck, he'd forgotten. "Fuck you, kissing me back. What the fuck?" He was usually more eloquent than this. "What the hell is up with me? What the hell is up with you? All the-- fucking time! What is your deal with me?" Lina: at 10:14 PM Goro chose a crate a few feet away from Mishka and sat down on it, facing him halfway. "I don't know. I'm a fucked up guy. I keep trying to warn people. Nixie, I mean. I keep trying to warn her. Why are you angry at me?" Coyote: at 10:19 PM Oh, god, the trying to warn people thing. "Fuck, me too," Mishka said. "Wait. No. God damn it. We are not bonding. You--" And then the anger came back, full force. He didn't realize how angry he was until it happened. "You. You're trying to kill yourself. I'm not-- I'm not fucking blind, Goro! What the fuck! The pendant-- what the fuck is your problem? Me trying to kill myself isn’t a good enough fucking reason for you to pitch a worthless pendant overboard? Goro, you can't hide that shit from me. I could just dominate you into getting it for me again. How do you know I wouldn't?" “And you,” he said. “You thinking I’d just—let you walk away from there with the pendant. You think I’m fucking blind. I know what you are. You’re as bad as me. What kind of person throws away their life to bring back a near-stranger? That wasn’t about me—bringing me back with the wand, that wasn’t about me—that was about you, that was about you needing to… punish yourself, or hurt yourself." “But no,” Mishka said. “When I actually need your help, you don’t give a shit. You wouldn’t pitch the pendant overboard. Me trying to kill myself isn’t good enough. You—you trying to kill yourself isn’t good enough, either. I bet you fucking hate yourself, don’t you? I know how that feels. But Nixie—that does it, huh? A girl batting her eyes at you—that fucking does it, huh? God forbid the poor girl see what a worthless jackass you are—” And then it tore out of him. “I needed your help, Alek—” And then he cut off there. He looked around the hold, quickly. Okay. Still no one around. Okay. Seven seconds in, seven seconds out. Talking about the pendant was rapidly countering the effects out of the alcohol; he felt his pulse changing, felt the room getting smaller again. He needed to go get Hansel, but couldn't. Seven in, seven out. Small cold stone. Lina: at 10:39 PM Goro rested his elbows on his knees and put his head in his hands. God, being around this guy was hard. He saw too much. Wouldn't swallow any bullshit without spitting some back out. He let Mishka's words wash over him, and he sat with them, trying to find something to argue with. And he did find one thing. "Near-stranger?" he said, lifting his head just enough to look over at Mishka. "I told you, I thought you were my fucking friend. What business did I have being alive instead of you, after what I did to you? And Hansel? And Nixie?" He straightened up, put his hands on his knees and dug his fingers in. "It's not about hurting myself, it's about making things right. I wasn't going to use the fucking pendant. I didn't even know the command word. I just thought it was neat." He sneered, mainly at himself, for being the kind of person who thought that. Same kind of person who walked into a magical items shop, saw the sickening otherworldly merchant, and decided he'd love to make a deal with her. He slouched again, loosening his grip on his knees. "I'm sorry, I didn't... with the pendant... I just, assumed you wouldn't get hold of it again. I wasn't thinking that far. I was only thinking about myself." He moved his tongue around in his mouth, then ran the tip of it over his lip. He still didn't get it, the kiss. Didn't get why Nixie had kissed him, either. "And why do you keep calling me Aleks?" he snapped. Coyote: at 10:44 PM Well, this wasn't how he expected this to go, but here he was. God. Wasn't that just... the summary of his whole goddamn life. He needed to stop planning things. He needed to stop doing things, period. None of them fucking worked. "You look like him," Mishka said. He mean to say it factually, neutrally, but it came out ragged instead. "I mean, you don't act like him. Even a little." Maybe that made it better. That Goro saw through his bullshit and kept his guard up the way Aleksei hadn't. Maybe Goro would last longer. Lina: at 10:49 PM "Hm. He's the one that the dragon ate, right?" Coyote: at 10:50 PM Ah fuck. Ah fuck he needed to stop talking to Goro. Mishka barely managed to get it out without giving anything else away. "Yes. The dragon. Ate. Him." Right. Lina: at 10:51 PM "Bullshit. What happened?" Coyote: at 11:02 PM Ah fuck. "Look. Look, it's not important--" Fuck he wanted to explain. He couldn't, though. Goro was still halfway stepped between being a Safe Person and an Unsafe Person after the whole pendant thing he's swung back towards the Unsafe side of things. On the other hand, though. The main thing was, Goro was fucking smart, even if he was pretty inexperienced, and Mishka still had no clue what made him tick, what was going on there. The dragon had a spine with a ring on it. And if anyone knew about that ring-- anyone-- and they helped free him, they might take it, and then Mishka was well and truly fucked. The dragon was largely ignoring him, aside from the occasional trouble of having to murder his loved ones. In the hands of Goro, that could be an insanely powerful magical artifact. There was no fucking way Mishka was telling Goro, or anyone else, about the slave cuff until the other half was destroyed. Hansel was... safe. It was fucking hard, having Hansel knowing, but was he was adjusting to it. Hansel would... give it back to him. Hansel would help get it off. Hansel would help him kill the dragon, and then help him destroy it, without ever breathing a word to anyone. Despite everything Mishka had done to him. Goro, though. Goro was like him, and Mishka wasn't sure he could resist the temptation of having a powerful sorcerer under his thumb. Bare minimum, Goro would probably tell Ripley what was going on, and then the truth might spread from there. On the other hand, Goro was staying over there, away from Mishka, a respectful distance away, even despite the kiss. Mishka fought to explain. "Look. The dragon. Aleks. It was my... fault how he died. A lot more-- directly than I said." Fuck. "I can't say, alright? I can't. Maybe-- maybe later, I don't fucking know. But I need you to trust me, here. I don't know what else to say. I'm not going to lie. I didn't lie before. I just can't tell you all of it. It might-- hurt me, and I don't know how to--" He ground his teeth. He got up to go get Hansel. He needed to go upstairs, around people again, so Goro couldn't keep asking him questions. Lina: at 11:34 PM His stammering, the way he insisted he couldn't tell the whole story. Goro had the strangest feeling they'd had this exact conversation not long ago. Then it came back to him: the cuff on Mishka's arm. When Goro asked him about the cuff, Mishka had gotten similarly flustered. Not quite so bad as this time, though. Aleks hadn't come up last night, not directly. Mishka didn't want to tell him the whole thing, and frankly, Goro didn't need to know. It was fucked up, whatever it was. He could find out the details when they became relevant. "Mishka," he said, when Mishka stood up to leave. "Let me help you." Coyote: at 11:44 PM Ah, fuck. Ah, fuck that was smooth. Ah, fuck he was supposed to be starting a fistfight with this kid. Mishka sat down heavily. In the morning, the kid was going to be a jackass again, and Mishka would be annoyed all over again, only now he'd fucking... know things. Know where to sink his fingers in. He'd know Mishka was hurt and upset, and that Mishka liked him too much, and that... he looked like Aleks, and that Mishka was scared of the dragon, and the pendant. Maybe he could still start a fistfight. Be harder now, though. Mostly because Mishka didn't want to, now. Ah, fuck. Mostly he just wanted to kiss Goro again. "Alright," he said, cautiously. He wanted to ask about the-- first kiss. Might be a weird change of subject, though. Lina: at 11:46 PM "So we gotta kill a dragon, huh?" Goro picked at some dirt under his fingernails. "What kind?" Coyote: at 11:48 PM Mishka choked out a hysterical laugh. "You and fucking Hansel. We can't kill it. It's-- it's not just a dragon, alright? It's--- it's the fucking Tyrant-King of Calimport. Is that what you want, Goro? Is that the plan? We kill a God-Emperor? Because I-- because I fucked up?" Lina: at 11:50 PM Goro sat up straighter, his eyes lighting, a grin spreading over his face. "We have to kill the Tyrant-King of Calimport?" Coyote: at 11:55 PM "Yes, absolutely. Let's just, y'know, add it to the fucking list, under helping the Mysterious Elf kill a bunch of orcs to get revenge for his dead husband. And saving Hansel from Renar Basha, and from demonic-fucking-possession or whatever the fuck that was. We'll do it right after we get done killing the whole Church of Helm to help Ripley, right? But obviously we've got to stop the goddamn apocalypse first, right, that's probably top priority, huh--" Lina: at 11:57 PM "Well, yes, it is. And then." Goro gestured toward the cuff on Mishka's wrist. "What's the curse do, exactly?" October 27, 2018 Coyote: at 12:00 AM Mishka pointed a finger at Goro. "No. Absolutely not. That's the line. Ain't saying. You'll-- you'll use it--" You'll use it against me, you'll hurt me, or-- "That's the line," Mishka said. "You are too fucking charming, and I am drunk, but that is the fucking line. It does... fucking terrible things, but it's only gonna hurt me, nobody else. At least for right now. I'll tell you... I'll tell you if it gets worse, I'll tell you what you need to do. If it gets to the point where it hurts somebody else. But. Until then. No. Absolutely fucking not." Lina: at 12:06 AM "I'll use it? Huh." Goro frowned skeptically at it. "So you're saying if I knew what it was, I could somehow hurt you with it. And it's hurting you right now, but someday it might hurt other people. Wow, that's fucking fascinating. I'm only half sure you're not just fucking with me. Maybe it's just a bracelet and this is some elaborate plan to lure me into the Tyrant-King's lair." He squinted. "No, but I know it is magical. I felt that before. Wow. Wow. What the hell kind of life have you lived, Haeth? You don't have to answer that." Coyote: at 12:15 AM Mishka folded his legs up, put his head down, and laughed until it fucking hurt. "I hate you," he said, wiping his eyes. "I'm going to pretend all of this didn't happen when I'm sober. Yeah, sure, I'm fucking with you. You know--" He needed to stop talking. He needed to go get Hansel. Hansel was an adult, right? "-- You know, I know for a fact you're never going to believe this, but I've never lied to you. Not once. Well, okay, I take that back. I lied to you about the dragon eating Aleks. It... killed it, indirectly, y'know, but it didn't... consume his body. I buried it." Remembering that memory felt like touching a hot stove. Still remembering the sand shifting down onto the body, saying Good-bye, Aleks, and feelings nothing, just empty, like everything in his chest cavity had been cut out. Spending the next twenty years looking for ways to bring people back, or how to length lifespans. Aleks had really loved him. And sometimes Mishka had loved him too. "Hey, hey, hey," he said. Changing the subject. "Before I forget. The fucking-- the kissing. You're alright with that?" Lina: at 12:20 AM "You--" Goro held up a finger, pointed it at his own face, then Mishka's-- "with the mask, and--you know what, never mind." He closed his eyes and waved it off. "Yes. I like the kissing. You?" It killed him indirectly. The cuff, then. Sometimes, the curse hurt other people. Maybe Goro would bring up his concerns on that front another day. Coyote: at 12:26 AM "Alright, I mean, there were other things. Sure. Those count as lying. Probably. The important things," Mishka said. "Y'know, the-- the domination spell, and pretending to be Nixie, I'm sorry about those. I really am. I won't do them again. I just don't fucking think, sometimes. I don't realize my plans are going to.... work, and I don't think about the consequences, sometimes. I didn't realize it was going to... actually harm you." Maybe he ought to revise his guidelines. He'd always avoided physical violence. Maybe... Maybe he ought to think more about the 'not hurting people' thing. He supposed he'd never considered wrecking people emotionally hurting them. Man, he needed to put some more thought into this. "The kissing," he said. "You didn't... respond, the first time. You, ah-- froze up?" Mishka had seen that very specific behavior before, and it usually came from a very specific thing. "Anything happen with that? I mean, did someone-- has someone-- do I need to-- you know what, that's pretty fucking personal, I'm not sure you want to tell me that." Lina: at 12:32 AM He felt himself start to freeze up right then--his jaw clenching, his tongue leaden in his mouth. He crossed his arms, shifting away slightly. "I just wasn't... expecting it, and, I'm not, I don't..." He laughed mirthlessly. "Can't talk. Uh. I don't have a lot of experience in that area. Is all." Coyote: at 12:41 AM Mishka eyed him, reading the body language. The tone. The way he changed what he was saying halfway through. There was a trick to lying. If you wanted to cover something up, something bad, you admitted a smaller personal confession instead. As a sort've distraction. It made the other person feel like they'd won something or gotten the real truth. That's what he was doing. Admitting he was... what? A virgin? To distract away from something worse. Mishka silently made a note of it. He was right. The kid had either been raped or someone had tried. And if the kid was inexperienced, well-- maybe that was why. Gun-shy. Or maybe Mishka was completely misreading the situation and there was no secret reason Goro was so touchy. Maybe Goro was just touchy. That was fine. Either way. Well, that wasn't Mishka's business. You had to let people keep their secrets, sometimes. "Sure, absolutely," he said. "No problem. Alright? I won't do it again unless you ask." There was a sack of alcohol down here-- someone must've stashed it away as extra stores. Mishka got up, dug around in it. "Preferences?" Lina: at 12:44 AM "What, you mean like, with tongue, or--" He looked over and saw what Mishka was doing. "Oh, fuck, you mean... ah, shit. Um, I don't... want any, thanks." He had a headache already from what he'd drunk with Larkin. A little Lesser Restoration would fix that, but seemed embarrassing to do it while someone was in the room with him. "You don't always have to... ask." Coyote: at 12:50 AM Mishka eyed him some more. Seemed honest, this time. That was... huh. Huh. "Well," Mishka said. "You should probably know. I'm... touchy... a bit, too. I know, I know. Obvious, right? Only kissed five people... five people? Yeah. Five people. In a hundred years. Only slept with two've 'em. Congrats, you're one of five people." He found an empty bottle, then went over to a large barrel in the corner. Popped open the tap, filled the bottle with water. Drank half of it, then offered it to Goro. Lina: at 12:54 AM Goro accepted the bottle, and drank some. "Huh. You're one of two, for me." Drank some more. "In the past twenty-four hours, at least." Drank some more, but he couldn't stop smiling, so a bit of water leaked out the sides of his mouth. "God, wouldn't that be funny if I could make it three?" Tipped the bottle back and downed the rest. It was a test, mainly, to see if Mishka would get pissed off. He still wasn't clear on that. Coyote: at 12:56 AM "What? Y'gonna kiss that fuckin' tiefling thief, too? Miss Basha? Goro," Mishka said. "Look, I don't want to discourage you, but y'know, I'm very good at reading body language, and Miss Basha, she doesn't like you like that. Respect her distance. As a friend." Lina: at 12:58 AM Goro choked, coughed, and sprayed some of the water out of his mouth. "Oh. God. No. Yeah." Ah, well, he'd let that one go for now. Ask about it another time. Coyote: at 1:00 AM "Well, you could always try Hansel," Mishka said, and then took a long drink of wine. Lina: at 1:06 AM There was no more water to spit out, but Goro paused in trying to wipe it all off his chin, and just let it drip. "Well." He nodded slowly. "Sure could." He pointed to the wine bottle. "Give me some of that, would you?" Coyote: at 1:10 AM "Sure, absolutely," Mishka said. "I'm getting blackout drunk, tying myself to my ex-husband, and never speaking to you again, for the record. The fuck do you make me so honest for. Fuckin'--fuckin' Goro, right?" Hansel would get it. He handed the bottle to Goro and sauntered up the stairs, grabbing a bottle of gin on his way up. This was too serious for wine now. Lina: at 1:11 AM END Category:Text Roleplay